Proper Windows 7 Upgrade Procedures - Pavilion a6130n Desktop [ Edited ]

[FWA]

I am about to upgrade a HP Pavilion a6130n desktop (purchased in 2008) running Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Professional. 

I intially upgraded the preinstalled OS from Vista Premium to Vista Ultimate. My understanding is that I will need to do a "custom" install as Windows 7 Professional will not upgrade directly from Windows Vista Ultimate.

Questions:

• Can you advise as to the proper procedures I will need to follow in order to upgrade to the new OS? 
• Would it be easier to simply use the HP restore CD and restore the computer to it's factory OS (Vista Premium) and then upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or is it better to do the "custom" upgrade? I am concerend about losing the HP drivers and all the factory installed applications if I perform a custom installation.
• If I do the custom upgrade, are the Windows 7 drivers and factory installed applications available for download for this desktop model? I looked on HP's website and I only see drivers listed for Windows Vista.
• Are there any known issues with the HP Pavilion a6130n desktop (including the factory installed software) and Windows 7 that I need to be aware of before upgrading?
• Are there any specific patches or bios updates that will need to be installed before I upgrade?

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Message Edited by FWA on 11-05-2009 02:59 PM

[IMspintheweb]

I would just update the bios if I was going to do the custom install (it wipes everything onthe drive anyway) and install 7

I did the upgrade yesterday - was not interested in reformatting and reinstalling EVERYTHING this week unless something went really wrong and the whoel process took jsut over two hours and everything remained as in in 7 (with the exception of stuff working better)

good luck

[PC_Tester]

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01778879&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=378...

[Bynar]

Hi FWA,

  Running the "custom" install is not an upgrade, it's a clean install, which means that you would lose any HP applications that came on the system.

  You won't be able to run an "upgrade" on windows Vista Ultimate, unless you upgrade to WIndows 7 Ultimate.  So given your scenario (upgrading, while keeping the HP applications), and ending up at Windows 7 professional, it'll be a bit of a process.

I'd recommend running the recovery on the system to Vista Home Premium, upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium, and then performing an anytime upgrade to Windows 7 pro.  For more information on the windows 7 upgrade path(s) see this microsoft page

To do this you can run a keyless install of windows 7 home premium (don't enter the product key when upgrading) to preserve the upgrade path.  After you get to home premium, launch the windows anytime upgrade application from the start menu, at which point you would enter your win7 pro key.

This is a convoluted process, but should ultimately get you to where you want.

[luvgames]

dang it i should have looked up this thread sooner. I already installed Windows 7 but i forgot to update my BIOS. When i tried to update it, this site said that i need Windows Vista! So is there any way to update the BIOS without going back to Vista?

[old_geekster]

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luvgames wrote:
dang it i should have looked up this thread sooner. I already installed Windows 7 but i forgot to update my BIOS. When i tried to update it, this site said that i need Windows Vista! So is there any way to update the BIOS without going back to Vista?

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 No, not at this time.  There are no Win7 updates for your computer.

[npadams1]

I am in the same situation, is there an ETA for a windows 7 version or is there another solution to try.

Thanks